LaughFest 2012 brought the “Last Comic Standing” winner back to town, and Madigan rocked the house on Monday evening in Fountain Street Church with tales of doing stand-up in Afghanistan, of holidays with her six siblings, of Oprah Winfrey’s weight, online Google searches and comfortable yoga pants.

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum promoting church dogma on the campaign trail doesn’t wash with American Catholics, such as herself, Madigan said.

“Rick didn’t get the nod and the wink that we were kidding on this,” Madigan said. “Even the Pope’s saying, ‘Dude! Bring it down.’”

This year, in the much larger Fountain Street Church, she brought along two comedians – Jason Dudey and Cristela Alonzo -- to open for her.

Doing standup in a church became fodder for all three in their appearance for Gilda's LaughFest. So was the tornado watch across the area.

Underlying anger informed the routines for Dudey, who struggled to find a Mother’s Day card, and for Alonzo, who grew up as the “official spoiled food taster” for her poor family.

Dudey, in his 16-minute set, struggled with a last name that makes third graders snicker.
“I knew early in life it wasn’t going to be easy. My sister got married at age 12,” he said, adding, “I told that joke in South Carolina and no one laughed."

After coming out as gay, his mother was disappointed she didn’t have a “super gay” son.
“I don’t do hair, I’m not a decorator. I don’t fly the friendly skies,” he said. “I drive a pickup truck, use power tools and wear Birkenstocks.”

“I’m a lesbian,” he concluded.

Alonzo, a Mexican American from Texas, said she grew up jealous of girls who could get tan or wear sexy Halloween costumes.

“I can’t dress up like a sexy French maid,” she said. “I just look like a maid.”

In her 29-minute routine, she touched on her “strict, mean Mom” and how she tells the months of the year by food.

“I just found out a pint of ice cream is four servings. It’s a sad day when you realize you’ve been eating for a family of four.”

Her physical routine had her imitating a gymnast taking a sobriety test. While talking about the emotional impact of a break up, she collapsed on the floor, where she stayed.
“It’s not part of the joke guys,” she said from ground level. “I’m tired. I need a break.”

Madigan on the other hand relishes telling stories of her parents, a lawyer and a nurse, both retired, bickering with each other and unable to deal with technology. When they accidentally switch their computer from English to Portuguese, they just give up on it.

“What I love is, they just shut the door,” Madigan said. “As if someone died in there.”

While shopping with her mother, Madigan asked her mother if she had anything for a headache, and the former nurse handed her a pill from an unmarked bottle.

“Three seconds after I take it, she says, ‘Oh, oh.’”

When her mother asks what color it was, and Madigan says she doesn’t know, her mother asks why she didn’t look at it first.

“Why didn’t I look at it?” Madigan said. “Because you aren’t a guy, and I’m not at a party.”

The last time she returned home to Missouri, her parents were sitting in the dim light of new, energy efficient light bulbs.

“I asked, ‘Are we having a séance’” Madigan recalled.

Her father said it’s all her mother’s doing.

“She’s upset because Al Gore is upset because the polar bears are dying, and no one will get to see them anymore.

“I don’t give a goddamn if I ever see a polar bear,” he continued. “What I’d like to see is the coffee table.”